Ranking the top 20 NCAA players at this summer's Euro Championships
Luke Winn si.com
We'll find out in November if a post-U20 boom is in store for Natyazhko. All we can say with certainty, in July, is that he tops SI's ranking of the 20 collegians we found playing on U20 rosters (all stats through Tuesday):
1) Kyryl Natyazhko, Ukraine (4-5, eighth place, Division A)
6-11, Soph. C, Arizona
U20 Stats: 32.0 mpg, 17.2 ppg, 8.4 rpg (3.6 orpg)
2) Jake Cohen, Israel (3-2, Division B)
6-10, Fr. F, Davidson
U20 Stats: 30.8 mpg, 20.6 ppg, 7.4 rpg (82.9 percent FT shooting, 6-of-15 three-point shooting)
3) Ovie Soko, Great Britain (4-1, Division B)
6-8, Soph. PF, UAB
U20 Stats: 29.0 mpg, 19.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 2.4 spg
Soko, who played high school ball in Virginia but was born in London, was a bit player for the Blazers as freshman, averaging 1.5 points in 10.1 minutes. He's using his size to dominate the interior in Austria, scoring 29 points (to go along with seven boards) against Poland on Tuesday. He also ranks fourth in Division B in steals.
4) William Neighbour, Great Britain (4-1, Division B)
6-10 Soph. F, Daytona State JC
U20 Stats: 17.0 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 1.4 bpg
Neighbour could be a nice frontcourt role player for a Division I team in 2011-12. He was rumored to be headed to Arkansas-Little Rock in 2008, but surfaced instead at Daytona State, where he averaged 15.3 points per game as a freshman.
5) Olek (Aleksander) Czyz, Poland (5-1, Division B)
6-6 Soph. F, Nevada (formerly at Duke)
U20 Stats: 24.2 mpg, 13.8 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 72.1 percent shooting
Czyz, who left Duke early in the '09-10 season and will be eligible for the second semester at Nevada in '10-11, has been highly efficient for the Poles, shooting nearly 75 percent from the field. He should be a strong frontcourt presence in the WAC once he's eligible.
6) T.J. DiLeo, Germany (3-6, 14th place, Division A)
6-2, Soph. SG, Temple
U20 Stats: 27.3 mpg, 10.7 ppg, 2.9 rpg
DiLeo, the son of 76ers senior VP Tony DiLeo, was mostly stuck on Temple's bench as a freshman last season. He had several promising performances in Croatia, though, dropping 20 points on both the Czech Republic and Netherlands, and finishing as the Germans' second-leading scorer.
7) Andrew Lawrence, Great Britain (4-1, Division B)
6-1 Soph., PG, College of Charleston
U20 Stats: 30.2 mpg, 13.2 ppg, 2.2 apg, 2.4 spg
Lawrence could be Charleston's future starting point guard. He's playing quite well for the 4-1 Brits in Austria, with a 2.2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio in five games.
8) Zisis Sarikopoulos, Greece (8-1, second place, Division A)
7-0, Soph. C, Ohio State
U20 Stats: 19.6 mpg, 7.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg
Sarikopoulos played significant minutes in a run to second place in Croatia, but cracking the Buckeyes' frontcourt rotation -- which will include Dallas Lauderdale, Jared Sullinger and DeShaun Thomas in 2010-11 -- will be tougher than cracking the Greeks'.
9) Alex Marcotullio, Great Britain (4-1, Division B)
6-3, Soph. SG, Northwestern
U20 Stats: 22.8 mpg, 10.0 ppg, 2.0 spg
Marcotullio had the green light to shoot threes as a freshman at Northwestern, and he made them at a 36.9 percent (41-of-111) clip. He's emerged as the Brits' primary gunner, and has made 38.5 percent of his international treys thus far.
10) Chris Czerapowicz, Sweden (3-2, Division B)
6-7, Fr. F, Davidson
U20 Stats: 26.8 mpg, 13.0 ppg, 5.2 rpg
There's no way McKillop will give Czerapowicz, who was discovered on a tip from ex-Wildcats playing in Sweden, the kind of shooting freedom he's been allowed in the U20s: In his past two games, he's gone 2-of-12 and 4-of-12 from beyond the arc. But the Wildcats do have hopes that Czerapowicz will develop into an excellent wing player in the Southern Conference.
11) Aksel Bolin, Norway (3-3, Division B)
6-7 Fr., SG, Northern Illinois
U20 Stats: 26.4 mpg, 9.6 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 0.6 bpg
Huskies coach Ricardo Patton called Bolin "a big kid with good perimeter skills." The Norwegian 19-year-old quietly signed with NIU this June, and has one double-double (13 points, 10 rebounds vs. Slovakia) so far in the U20s.
12) Nimrod Tishman, Israel (3-2, Division B)
6-5 PG, formerly at Florida
U20 Stats: 32.2 mpg, 9.4 ppg, 2.6 apg, 2.8 topg
Tishman's trial year in D-I didn't go well; he couldn't break into the Gators' rotation behind Ervin Walker and Kenny Boynton, and so the former Israeli junior star opted to return to his homeland and turn pro. He's piloted his national team to a 3-2 record thus far -- but has a disappointing, sub-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
13) Vladyslav Kondratyev, Ukraine (4-5, eighth place, Division A)
6-8 Soph. F, Bryant
U20 Stats: 19.7 mpg, 3.8 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 0.9 spg
Kondratyev was one of the few bright spots for a Bryant club that went 1-29 last season and was arguably one of the worst two teams in Division I. He was named to the NEC All-Rookie team after averaging 8.9 points and 3.1 rebounds, and followed it up with a decent summer in Croatia, serving as a solid role player for the Ukrainians.
14) Akeem Vargas, Germany (3-6, 14th place, Division A)
6-4, Soph. PG, Iowa Lakes Community College
U20 Stats: 22.6 mpg, 4.4 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 1.9 apg
Vargas is an oversized point guard who could end up on a D-I team in 2011-12. He scored 16 points on eventual third-place team Spain in Germany's opener, but was quiet for the rest of the U20 tournament.
15) Ruslan Pateev, Russia (5-4, fifth place, Division A)
7-0 Soph. C, Arizona State
U20 Stats: 7.3 mpg, 3.1 ppg, 2.0 rpg
Pateev's U20 experience was remarkably similar to his freshman year with the Sun Devils, for whom he averaged 2.1 points and 1.9 rebounds in 8.3 minutes per game. His minutes should increase as a sophomore now that fellow import Eric Boateng has graduated.
16) Carl Engstrom, Sweden (3-2, Division B)
7-0, Fr. C, Alabama
U20 Stats: 16.4 mpg, 2.8 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 0.0 blocks
Alabama announced on July 1 that it was adding Engstrom to its 2010 recruiting class, and he appears to be a classic project center. He was a former national team handball player in Sweden and has only been playing hoops for two years, so his limited production in Austria was understandable.
17) Deniz (Mükremin) Kilicli, Turkey (2-7, 13th place, Division A)
6-10, Soph. PF, West Virginia
U20 Stats: 6.8 mpg, 1.8 ppg, 1.8 rpg
Mountaineers coach Bob Huggins is eyeing Kilicli as a starter at center next season, and WVU fans are hoping the big Turk will have a sophomore breakout ... but his stats from Croatia were underwhelming. He was with the Turkish team under curious circumstances -- he initially said he'd be visiting home for 2 1/2 weeks, but was then pulled into national-team duty until the end of July. Kilicli didn't get off the bench in four of the team's final five games, and probably would've been better off training in Morgantown.
18) Alistair Mackay, Great Britain (4-1, B Division)
6-10 Fr., C, Davidson
U20 Stats: 10.8 mpg, 2.8 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 0.4 bpg
Mackay is a Scottish project who'll need time to get acclimated to D-I hoops, but could be an asset for the Wildcats in a few years. It's not easy for mid-majors, even those of Davidson's ilk, to recruit size stateside.
19) Raheem May-Thompson, Great Britain (4-1, Division B)
6-6, Soph. F, Quinnipiac
U20 Stats: 5.0 mpg, 1.3 ppg, 0.7 rpg.
Thompson, whose father, Leo, is a former member of the British national team, was a bit player for Bobcats this past season ... and a bit player for the Brits in Austria. Soko and Neighbour earned the bulk of the minutes at forward for England.
20) Carmel Bouchman, Israel (3-2, B Division)
6-8, Fr. F, Temple (but may be returning to Israel)
U20 Stats: 1.5 mpg, 0.0 ppg, 0.0 rpg
Bouchman only appeared in nine games for the Owls, averaging 1.3 minutes, but didn't have much of a role on the Israeli team, either: In the four games he appeared in, he had three trillions.
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